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Sunday, July 20, 2014

I thought about how best to cover the fling, should we cover it chronologically, by location, type, by day, or even by colour? In the end we thought we would dip in and out of the various gardens, not having a plan as such but posting about the gardens and locations as the mood takes us. Perhaps something will remind us of a garden and so we will cover it. We are not going to set any goals, we may not end up covering them all, or perhaps it will take us up to the Fling in 2015 before we get to the end.So without further ado the first garden to share is the garden of JJ De Sousa, garden designer and proprietor of Digs, an eclectic shop selling a wide range of interesting home and garden accessories. Sadly we didn't get to visit the shop too.The garden wraps around the home, which is centred in the middle of a 77'x127' lot.

You enter the garden via an orange gate of carrots. Well why wouldn't the gate be carrots! Which gives the first clue as to the favourite colour of JJ!The house itself is rather cute, making us think of a fairy story! The front garden is mostly shade planting, with several large old trees providing a canopy.

Hostas, grasses, coleus, and splashes of orange!

The steps to the front door, are guarded by a number of pots, and more orange... check out the little guard on the front door.

Is the gnome checking we don't approach... or making sure the cute kitty cat doesn't try to escape!

Looking back along the left hand side of the front garden is a seating area flanked by large unblemished pots of Hosta 'Sum and Substance'. Ours seem to attract too many slugs, but maybe the pots of gravel mulch on the ground is keeping them away.

Back along the garden path.

The garden is full of seating areas, we were told there was seating for 68. I could imagine us using chairs similar to these!

On entering the back garden the mood changes, instead of shade is bright hot sunshine, and the planting changes too. Olives, agaves, silver foliage and white blooms jostle for attention with the various decor items.

More seating and more orange!

Metal fencing bounced back the light and heat, more orange and more spikies!

Another seating area with a fantastic looking patio heater.... more orange!

Bump!

Bloggers, bloggers everywhere!

The garden shade had cooling water jets, much needed in a hot sunny day!

These two planters reminded me of two people holding hands. Intentional or just my mind?

We loved this garden, so much fun and full of personality (and orange!)
Gaz

36 comments
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Great post on one of my favorite gardens which I didn't get to visit during the Fling. JJ is such a fun soul, who packs as much into a road trip as she does her garden (we went to the San Francisco Flower show one March and managed to see just about everything else worth seeing in the area too, all in just 3 days!). Glad you enjoyed visiting. Oh and random (fun fact)...those big black chairs in your 9th photo have been turquoise, orange and now black in just the last 4 years...why just stick with one color!

That's a great idea changing the chairs every so often, variety brings spice and keeps the interest going. If only that's possible most of the time. Her garden is inspiring to say the least, and so much fun! You were busy yourself that day, hopefully we'll all get to visit her garden together some day, and no doubt see some new exciting things then!

I enjoyed seeing this garden. It is so full of personality and looks like a perfect place for a party. I love all the orange accents, especially that fantastic heater! I can't imagine a more enjoyable thing to do in Portland than to visit fabulous gardens. I am totally jealous!

I love this garden - the quirks, the colors, and the plants. I especially love the octopus wall pot with the cactus - a perfect pairing. The gardener does a great job of using color to integrate different sections of the garden. Thanks for sharing your photos. I hope you've conquered your jet lag.

The word "quirky" could have been invented for that garden, and what a social space, too, though I imagine one could quickly loose track of people, so many nooks and crannies, all with seating. The hostas in those huge pots are enough to tempt me back to the dark side. A glance out the window at the tattered mess should be sufficient cure, though I do need to get hold of a couple of large pots to place on drain covers...

Exuberant personality abounds! Love it! But my favorite part was the ingenious use of space - as in using those gabions and plantings to create a variety of levels, or garden rooms. That hornbeam hedge was great too... Such a fun, inspiring space - now I'm just waiting for a party invite!

Amazing how pristine the hostas were --- and everything else. Incredibly styled. You got some great framing shots, something I neglected to do. The "holding hands" planters are lovely, all the silver ponyfoot and the ozothamnus. The back garden would be amazing to see at twilight.

Hi Patrick, thank you for the comment and glad to hear that you're finding our fling report useful. Yes, feel free to use the photo of the carrot gate. Looking forward to hearing more of your gardening exploits :)

This gardening blog follows our journey as we create our Tropical and Exotic themed garden. We hope you'll enjoy the journey as much as we do. We started our Exotic Garden in 2005 and this site will show its development, as well as our travels, both abroad and within the UK to gardens, nurseries and friends.See also our full about page